Door operating system



Dec. 3, 1940. J. R. NEWKIRK 2,223,637

DOOR OPERATING SYSTEM Filed Oct. 17, 1939 I 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Jchn R. NewKwK.

Afmrneys.

DOOR OPERATING SYSTEM Filed Oct. 17, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTO R. John R'New kw-K AH-ornzga Patented Dec. 3, 1940 1 I UNITED STATES PATENT orice DOOR OPERATIN G SYSTEM John R. Newkirk, Railway, N. J., assignor to National Pneumatic Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of West Virginia Application October 17, 1939, Serial No. 299,817

Claims. (0]. 268-64) This invention is concerned with door operatcomprising the normal forces required to opering mechanism and envisions the particular obate it. ject of providing an equalized mechanism by Referring to Figures 1 and 2, in which one form means of which a single engine may operate two of the invention is illustrated, there is shown in door shafts in spaced synchronism so that door plan at I a plate or other suitable form of base or leaves connected thereto will move in exact support adapted to be mounted directly over a unison. door opening. At 4 and 4' are a pair of door Other and more detailed objects of the invenshafts which as commonly employed extend vertion will become apparent from the following detically in parallel relationship and which are poscription when taken in connection with the atsitioned at the two sides of the door opening. 10 tached drawings. These shafts are usually joumaled in a pair of This invention resides substantiallyin the comvertically spaced bearings, one of which is probination, construction, arrangement and relavided for each shaft near its lower end, and the tive location of parts, all as will be set forth in other of which is provided for each shaft at its detail in the following description. upper end. 15

In the accompanying drawings. In Figure 1 the upper bearings for the shafts Figure 1 is a top plan view of one form of mech- 4 and 4' have been illustrated at 2 and 3 mounted anism in accordance with this invention, with the on or secured to the supporting plate I in any parts broken away to facilitate'illustration of the suitable manner. Secured to the upper ends of structure on a sufliciently large scale; the shafts 4 and 4', above the respective bearings, 90

Figure 2 is a longitudinal, central, crosssecare the levers 5 and 6 respectively, which are retional view through the engine of Fig. 1. spectively pivotally connected at I and 8 to the It is common practice on vehicles such as links or rods 9 and I0. street cars, and in other places, to provide a 010- The engine is shown as comprising a cylinder sure for a door opening consisting of a pair of i2 provided at one end with ahead terminating in sections, both of which are moved to open and an internal threaded lug II in which the link In close the doorway. These two sections maybeinis secured. The other end of the cylinder is dividually operated in the case of power operated closed by a detachable head I3, through which doors by separate motive devices, or as has been the rod 9 passes, which comprises the piston rod proposed from time to time, they may both be for the engine. 3

moved by a single motive device connected thereto As shown in Figure 2, the piston rod 9 is sewith suitable linkages. cured to a piston M which is mounted for recip- In the past dimculty has been encountered in rocation within the cylinder l2. The piston rod providing linkage systems and interconnecting or connecting link 9 passes through a packing the door shafts on which the door sections are gland I! which is in the form of a ring of suit- 5 mounted by means of them to the engine, so as able flexible material such as rubber, which ring to secure the desired practical object of having is held in a recess by means of a disc or plate I8 both door sections move in synchronism. Frethreadedly mounted in a suitable recess in the quently, even with arrangements which cause the head l3. The plate or disc 3 is provided with doors to move more or less in synchronism, it has a series of ports I!) the function of which is to been found that with such arrangements when be explained later. one door section has been fully opened and the As is clearly shown in Fig. 2, the ring or collar door has come to rest, the other section is not H is provided with a peripheral groove of such fully opened. Furthermore, the lack of equalizadimensions as to reduce the axial thickness of 40 tion in movement of the door sections has re- 'the rim of the collar on each side of the groove suited in'setting up undue stresses and strains sufiiciently to make those rims flexible. Their in the mechanism. function will be described later.

In a general sense it may be said to be the The piston i4 is provided with three peripheral main object of this invention to provide a simple grooves, the central one of which isof less depth arrangement whereby a single engine is so than the other two and in which is mounted a 50 mounted and interconnected that a pair of door ring 23 of suitable flexible material such as rubshafts with the door sections connected thereto her to form a piston ring. In the other two pemove in unison and furthermore that their moveripheral grooves are mounted similar rings also ments are so equalized that there is a balance of connecting as piston rings, but in this case having stresses and strains set up in the mechanism, grooves on their internal faces to form the flexible internal rims similar to those described in connection with the collar II. The internal diameter of the flexible rings 20 is less than the diameter of the peripheral grooves at their base in which they lie. which are connected to the respective ends of the cylinder l2 by the passages 2| and 22, The functions of this arrangement will be described later.

The right hand end of cylinder I2 is provided with a boss which is in communication with that end of that cylinder and is adapted to receive a pressure fluid pipe connection. In a similar way the boss I5 is formed on the head l3 for supplying pressure fluid through a suitable connection to the left hand end of cylinder l2.

Secured to the lower side of cylinder I2 is a depending pin 24 which engages the bifurcated end 25 of a lever 26. Lever 26 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on a pivot pin 21 mounted on a plate 28 secured to the base I. The opposite end of lever 26 is pivotally connected at 29 to a link 30 which, in turn, is pivotally connected at 3| to the lever 5 at a .point intermediate the ends thereof.

In describing the operation of this arrangement, it is to be noted that the respective ends of the cylinder I2 may be alternately connected by any suitable form of valve to a pressure fluid source and to the atmosphere. It will be assumed that the parts are shown in door closed position. In order to open the doors the left hand end of cylinder 12 is connected to the pressure fluid source while the right hand end is left open to exhaust. The result is that pressure fluid is fed into the left hand end of cylinder I2 thereby causing piston 84 to move to the right and by reason of the reaction forces the cylinder I2 is caused to move to the left.

As a result of this movement it will be seen that lever 5 and shaft 4 rotate in a clockwise direction (Fig. 1) and lever 6 and shaft 4' move in a counter-clockwise direction. As the cylinder l2 moves to the left lever 26 moves in acounterclockwise direction about the pivot pin 21. It will be noted that the end 25 of this lever is slotted so that the pin 24 can move longitudinally thereof leaving the cylinder free to move as required by the linkage system. The movement of the lever 26 is constrained so as to be proportionate to the movement of lever 5 by reason of the linkage connection 30. I With this arrangement it will be seen that the engine is more or less freely floating and since it in effect comprises a sort of variable link the parts are permitted to assume a balanced equally. stressed condition whereby the door shafts move in 'unison and bothv are assured of just the right amount of movement to insure full opening and full closing of each door section.

With reference to Figure 2, it will be seen that when the pressure fluid is supplied to the left hand end of cylinder l2 it acts through the passages I9 on the flexible peripheries of the collar I! as well as on the collar itself to aid in forming a fluid tight sliding engagement with the piston rod 9. It likewise acts through the passages 22 on the flexible inner rims of the left hand ring 20 as well as on the ring itself to aid in forming a tight fitting piston ring. The right hand end of cylinder 12 is open to exhaust through the boss Hi. In order to close the door the connection to boss 15 is opened to exhaust and the connection to boss I6 is open tothe pressure fluid source so that the piston moves back to the position shown in Fig. 2 causing a reverse This provides annular spaces.

operation of the door shafts. During the reverse operation the pressure fluid acts through the passages 22 to cause the ring 20 to form a tight flt with the cylinder.

From the above description it will be appar- 5 ent to those skilled in the art that this invention resides in certain principles of construction and operation which may be embodied in other physical. forms without departure from the novel scope thereof. M l

I do not, therefore. desire to be limited by the particular forms of invention submitted for illustrative purposes, but rather by the true scope of the claims granted me.

What is claimed is: 1

1. A door operating system as described, comprising a pair of shafts journaled for rotation, an engine comprising a cylinder and a piston, means for connecting the cylinder to one of said door shafts, and the piston to the other, a fixed 20 pivotal support, means for pivotally connecting the cylinder to said support, and a pivoted linkage connection betweensaid support and one of said shafts.

2. In a mechanism for operating a pair of 25 shafts in synchronism, the combination including a pair of shafts journaled for rotation, an engine comprising a cylinder and a piston, arms secured to said shafts respectively, means for connecting one of said arms to said cylinder, 30

means for connecting the other of said arms to said piston, a pivot support mounted adjacent said engine, a lever pivotally mounted thereon intermediate its ends, means on'said cylinder for pivotally engaging one end of said lever, and a link pivotally interconnecting the other end of said lever with one of said arms. I

3. In a mechanism for operating a pair of shafts in synchronism, the combination including a pair of shaftsjournaled for rotation, an 40 engine comprising a cylinder and a piston, arms secured to said shafts respectively, means for connecting one of said arms to said cylinder, means for. connecting the other of said arms to said piston, a pivot support mounted adjacent said engine, a lever pivotally mounted thereon intermediate its ends, means. on said cylinder for pivotally engaging one end of said lever, and a link pivotally interconnecting the other end of' said lever with said arm connected to said piston.

4. In an arrangement asdisclosed, a pair of shafts journaled for rotation, an engine for operating said shafts comprising a cylinder and a piston, means for pivotally connecting the cylinder to one of said shafts, means for pivotally connecting the piston to the other of said shafts, said connecting means forming the support" for said engine, means for pivotally connecting said cylinder to a fixed support, and alink pivotally connecting the means connected to the piston to the same fixedpivotal support.

5. A door operating mechanism including a pair of door shafts mounted for rotation, an engine for operating said shafts comprising a cylinder and a piston, means for pivotally connecting the cylinder at one end to one ofsaid shafts and the piston to the other of said shafts, a fixed pivot support,-means for pivotally con necting the cylinder intermediate its ends to said pivotal support, and pivoted links interconnecting one of said shafts with said pivotal support. i

' JOHN R. NEwmak. 7 

